Visual working memory in aphantasia: Retained accuracy and capacity with a different strategy

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Psychology

Background:

• Visual working memory (VWM) involves temporary information storage and manipulation.
• Visual imagery (recruiting sensory areas) is often proposed as a key strategy for VWM.
• This raises questions about VWM performance in individuals with aphantasia, who lack visual imagery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate VWM task performance in individuals with aphantasia.
• To determine if visual imagery is a necessary component of VWM.
• To explore strategy differences in VWM between aphantasic individuals and controls.

Main Methods:

• Assessed VWM capacity and performance in aphantasic individuals and controls.
• Utilized various laboratory and clinical working memory tasks.
• Analyzed strategy use and visual memory accuracy, including the oblique effect.

Main Results:

• No significant differences in capacity limits for visual, numerical, or spatial working memory were found.
• Aphantasic individuals showed no performance differences between visual and verbal components of clinical tests.
• Aphantasic individuals reported different strategies and lacked the oblique effect, supporting non-imagery strategies.

Conclusions:

• Aphantasic individuals are not impaired on VWM tasks, challenging the notion that VWM and visual imagery are identical.
• Visual imagery is likely one of several strategies, not a prerequisite, for VWM.
• Cognitive flexibility in strategy use is demonstrated by aphantasic individuals.